VIA's Nano Takes on the Atom
Posted 07/30/08 at 02:06:13 PM | by Paul Lilly
Much has been made over Intel's Atom processor, the 45nm wonder-chip finding its way into more netbooks than production can seemingly keep up with. But lest the world forget, VIA also has a low power chip of its own, one the company claims delivers "truly optimized performance for the most demanding computing, entertainment, and connectivity applications."
VIA's 65nm Nano processor saw an official launch a full two months ago, but it's Intel's Atom that keeps getting the attention. Is it justified? A pair of review sites looked to answer that question by pitting an Intel Atom 230 (1.6GHz) against a VIA Nano L2100 (1.8GHz), and both sites came to the same conclusion: VIA's Nano is the faster processor.
Clocked 12.5 percent faster the Atom chip, it should come as no surprise to see the Nano L2100 churn out better performance numbers, but it's the margin of victory that might turn a few heads. In some cases, the Nano chip outpaced the Atom by a margin of 15 to 20 percent, showing it deserves more attention than just as an also-ran.
Of course, it's all for naught if VIA can't win the one contest that matters most: Vendor support.
Image Credit: VIA
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what about the chipset?
Submitted by mikemckay on Tue, 2008-11-11 10:33
an ultra low power cpu wont seem as attractive if they make intels mistake and pair it with just some standard chipset. chipsets actually designed for atom netbooks (that dont take up twice the power as the cpu) are coming soon and so are dual-core atoms.....i like to cheer the underdog but i cant see them taking on intel in a really major way here
why did they compare the performance per watt to just a celeron and not the atom???
Submitted by allc0re on Thu, 2008-07-31 11:42
I remember reading about the Nano way before the Atom, yet all I hear nowadays is about the Atom processor. The fact that the Nano outpaces the Atom secures my theory. It has everything to do with the size of Intel versus the size of VIA.
As soon as they have a dual core Nano, I'm all over it!!!!
When the duel core Adam comes out...
Submitted by dwr50 on Thu, 2008-07-31 07:43
you won't hear anything about the Nano at all. Once again speed and power will grab the headlines.
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Another David taking on Goliath
Submitted by TheUltimateGamer2006 on Wed, 2008-07-30 21:52
I have a ton of respect for what VIA is doing, but I think it's ultimately a futile move. Intel has such momentum in the market and in resources, they could probably have a faster Atom processor in a matter of months. I personnally think that Intel learned it's lesson from the Athlon series, and I doubt they will let VIA make much of a dent.
Submitted by sdcat on Wed, 2008-07-30 13:07
Yup VIA deserve a chance especailly it is also lower power consumption and now been tested way faster by the margin as metioned in the news.
Submitted by PhynaeusClaw on Wed, 2008-07-30 22:34
I think that Intel's marketing agents would agree that these product are all about low power consumption. So the deciding factors (in order of importance) are: 1) power consumption and THEN 2) performance.
So... DOES the Nano consume more/less power than the Atom?
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